Jackson v. City of Gahanna
| Decision Date | 23 November 2010 |
| Docket Number | Case No. C2:08–CV–0068. |
| Parties | Benjamin JACKSON, Plaintiff,v.CITY OF GAHANNA, OHIO, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Alexander Morris Spater, Columbus, OH, for Plaintiff.Brian M. Zets, Wiles, Boyle, Burkholder & Bringardner Co., LPA, Columbus, OH, for Defendants.
This matter is before the Court on Defendants City of Gahanna, Sergeant Sheila Murphy, and Chief Dennis Murphy's Motion for Summary Judgment. Motion, Doc. No. 36. For the reasons that follow, Defendants' motion is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.
On January 19, 2006, Benjamin Jackson (“Jackson”) parked his maroon four-door older-model Toyota on Goshen Court in Gahanna while visiting a friend who lived on that street. During a routine patrol at approximately 11:30 p.m., Sergeant Sheila Murphy of the Gahanna Police Department (“Sgt. Murphy”) noticed Jackson's car with what she described as a “special plate” affixed to it that struck her as odd on an older car. She ran the license plate number through the Gahanna dispatcher and learned that the car had been reported stolen. After parking behind Jackson's car and calling for backup, Sgt. Murphy tried to read the car's VIN number from outside the car and on the inside of the car door but saw that it had been scratched off. Aiming her flashlight into the vehicle, she saw a marijuana cigarette on the dashboard.
From inside his friend's house, Jackson saw Sgt. Murphy's police cruiser pull up behind his car and walked outside to speak with her. Jackson identified himself to Sgt. Murphy by name and told her that although he had reported his car stolen, he had since reported it recovered. Sgt. Murphy then asked Jackson about the marijuana cigarette. When he asked to see it, Sgt. Murphy opened the car door, retrieved the cigarette, and asked Jackson whether there was anything else illegal in the car. Jackson responded by stating that he was going back inside his friend's house.
Sgt. Murphy did not allow Jackson to return to the house but informed him that he needed to be patted down for safety. Without formally placing Jackson under arrest, Sgt. Murphy walked Jackson to the cruiser and placed him in the backseat. She and another officer who had arrived on the scene then searched Jackson's car, where Sgt. Murphy found a bag containing a white powdery substance underneath the car's radio.
While Sgt. Murphy was searching Jackson's car, Jackson realized that the power windows were not locked and that he was able to open the backseat door. Jackson proceeded to exit from the cruiser and left the scene. Upon noticing that Jackson was no longer in the cruiser, Sgt. Murphy initiated a search for Jackson. Neither the Columbus Police Department, the Airport Police Department, nor the Mifflin Police Department located Jackson that night.
Sgt. Murphy positively identified Jackson through his Bureau of Motor Vehicles (“BMV”) photograph, compared it against the registration information listed for the car with the BMV, and confirmed that Jackson was the owner of the car. She also issued warrants against him for possession of cocaine, obstructing official business, and drug paraphernalia. Jackson surrendered himself several days later.
Around midnight on February 25, 2006, Sgt. Murphy was driving northbound on Goshen Lane on patrol at the same time as Jackson was driving southbound on Goshen Lane. Sgt. Murphy noticed in her side mirror that the license plate light on the southbound car was not working and made a u-turn to initiate a traffic stop. Sgt. Murphy activated her emergency beacons, and Jackson turned off of Goshen Lane onto Goshen Court. While he was decelerating on Goshen Court, Jackson's driver's side door opened slightly. Once both cars had stopped, Sgt. Murphy approached Jackson's car and told him to roll down his window, shut his door, and turn his car off. Sgt. Murphy fully shut the door and Jackson turned off his vehicle before saying, “Haven't I met you here before?” Sgt. Murphy did not respond to this question but asked Jackson for his driver's license. She also requested backup over her police radio.
Jackson handed Sgt. Murphy a green Ohio Identification Card (“ID card”). Sgt. Murphy had by this point in time recognized Jackson from their January 19th encounter and assumed based on that encounter that she would find narcotics or something else illegal on his person or in his car. Immediately after Jackson turned over his ID card, the following exchange took place as memorialized in a video that recorded the event from the perspective of Sgt. Murphy's police cruiser:
Sgt. Murphy contends that her order for Jackson to stop moving was prompted by his attempt to start his car. Jackson contends that his hand was on the gear shift but that he made no attempt to restart his car. The encounter continued as follows:
Sgt. Murphy commanded Jackson to get out of the car three more times before she tasered him.
What happened next is disputed by the parties. According to the Defendants and supported by deposition testimony, Jackson pushed Sgt. Murphy backwards as he got out of the car and grabbed the hand in which she was holding the taser. Sgt. Murphy hit Jackson on the head to regain control of the taser and was tasered by Jackson twice on her left hand as the two fell backwards. Sgt. Murphy radioed for help, and a bystander joined the attempt to subdue Jackson. Jackson struck Sgt. Murphy in the face with his elbow before the bystander restrained him. Once restrained, Jackson continued to struggle and disobeyed Sgt. Murphy's order to get on the ground.
At this point, Gahanna Police Officer Darren Price arrived on the scene in response to Sgt. Murphy's earlier distress call. He deployed pepper spray on Jackson, drew his service weapon, and ordered Jackson to drop the taser. Officer Gray and Detective Mike Apple arrived on the scene, but Jackson disobeyed several more orders to drop the taser before finally relinquishing the weapon.
According to the Plaintiff, Jackson attempted to comply with Sgt. Murphy's order to get out of the car after she had tasered him. Instead of allowing him to exit the car, Sgt. Murphy hit Jackson in the head and swung him into a car. Sgt. Murphy, Jackson, and the bystander struggled together until the bystander restrained Jackson. While Jackson was still held by the bystander, Sgt. Murphy struck him in the groin, another officer sprayed him with pepper spray, and Sgt. Murphy instructed an officer with a drawn firearm to shoot Jackson. The plaintiff contends that all of Jackson's actions during this altercation were defensive.
The parties do not dispute the way the encounter concluded. Jackson was ultimately detained by the police, arrested, and placed in the back of a police cruiser. The officers searched Jackson's car and found a box containing a small digital scale, a bag of cocaine, a bag of marijuana, and two gold-colored packages of condoms. At the police station during booking, the police additionally recovered a large amount of cash bundled by denomination from Jackson's pockets. The police weighed the narcotics at the station and determined that they had found 16.2 grams of cocaine, 3.8 grams of marijuana, 3 marijuana joints, and 3 prescription tablets in Jackson's car.
Jackson has provided uncontested evidence that his driver's license was suspended for failure to provide proof of financial responsibility. Ohio Rev.Code Ann. § 4509.101. Some time before February 25, 2006, Jackson had submitted the SR–22 bond that reinstated his driving privileges and had received a letter from the BMV informing him that his suspension was no longer in effect. He had not, however, gone to the BMV to obtain a new license.
Jackson was arrested and charged with six offenses on February 25, 2006: (1) Felonious Assault in violation of Ohio Rev.Code Ann. § 2905.11; (2) Possession of Cocaine in violation of Ohio Rev.Code Ann. § 2925.11; (3) Possession of Marijuana in violation of Ohio Rev.Code Ann. § 2925.11; (4) Possession of Drug Paraphernalia in violation of Ohio Rev.Code Ann. § 2925.14; (5) Open Container in violation of Ohio Rev.Code Ann. § 4301.62; and (6) License Plate Required in violation of Ohio Rev.Code Ann. § 4513.05. The prosecuting attorney, however, declined to prosecute any charges against Jackson arising from that night.
On December 19, 2007, Jackson filed his...
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